Big Ben, the sight we like to share the most

IT may be bongless at the moment, but Big Ben clearly still chimes with tourists.

The London landmark was the most popular British sight on photo-sharing site Instagram in 2017, statistics show.

Users shared more than 2.5million images of the Westminster clock tower, which currently stands silent while restoration work is being carried out.

Anfield, the home of Liverpool Football Club, came second on the list, making it the only sports arena to be featured in the top 12 of Britain’s most photographed places on the social media platform. More than 490,000 pictures were posted of the 1884 arena last year.

The third most Instagrammed UK sight was prehistoric Stonehenge in Wiltshire, with more than 454,000 images of the Unesco World Heritage Site appearing.

Instagram is a free online photo-sharing application which allows users to edit and upload photos and short videos. It has 800million users worldwide.

The New Forest was in fourth place. Images of the National Park in Hampshire, which is famed for its 3,000 wild ponies, were shared more than 363,000 times last year, according to research by the travel website Expedia.

Snowdonia – where Theresa May famously decided to call last year’s snap general election while on a walking holiday – was just behind with around 360,000 people posting images from the Welsh mountains.

The largest natural lake in England, Windermere, was sixth with 300,000 Instagram photographs, followed by Edinburgh Castle with 294,000 shared images.

In total, Instagram users shared around 5.4million photos of the top 12 attractions.